individual therapy

The feeling that something just isn't right can take many forms. You may be finding it difficult to enjoy the things that used to bring you pleasure. Or you may suddenly find yourself unable to stop worrying that something bad will happen, or the stresses of life may be growing burdensome or even overwhelming.

It may be that the way you've usually dealt with things isn't working any more, or you're eating, drinking, or using other substances to try to just "make it all go away." The problem may be most apparent in your relationships, which seem not to last, or to be too tumultuous. Perhaps it's not you, but your adolescent---or your intimate relationship---that needs attending to.

But because you probably don't experience yourself as a constellation of symptoms, rather as the center of a story that either feels as though it's "working" or it isn't, your reasons for coming to therapy are embedded in a narrative that holds the key to your feeling better.

Sharing your story is the first step in the journey.

Though this experience is exactly what's needed to start the process of healing and change, here's where you may already be starting to feel frustrated and anxious about the prospect of beginning therapy, even if you've done it before. The idea of trying to tell the whole story of your life, or your relationship, or your child's school or social problems to someone you've just met can be daunting enough to prevent you from coming in the first place.

I hope that these feelings don't succeed in stopping you, because starting the conversation will probably be much easier than you think. Most therapists have a lot of experience asking the questions needed to help the process along. Even talking about what happened that very day may provide a microcosm of your experience sufficient to communicate what troubles you most.

Whatever your reasons for thinking that it might help to talk to someone, the underlying causes of your discomfort should be discovered and explained. Sometimes this is the very thing that scares people away from psychotherapy, because the idea of digging and digging, a la Woody Allen, is just not that appealing! But with the right therapist, the work of discovering what makes you tick can be done much more quickly than you probably imagine, and with your participation, it can be a most rewarding effort.

Usually, using both analytic methods (the digging part) and cognitive behavioral tools (helping you change a point of view, for example) will ensure that you make the changes you seek. The changes, by the way, are ones you decide you want. If you aren't sure what they are, together we can figure this out.